AP Interview: Iraqi militia leader wants US troops to leave

BAGHDAD (AP) — The leader of one in all the most extremely efficient Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq said Monday that he expects a vote within the impending months by Iraq’s parliament calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, underscoring the jostling for vitality between Iran and the U.S. in this key Middle Eastern country.

Qais al-Khazali, who rose to prominence as a dash-setter within the Shiite insurgency after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, said there’s no longer a justification for hundreds of U.S. troops to live in Iraq now that the Islamic Disclose team has been defeated. He advised U.S. troops could presumably perhaps at final be pushed out by power if they develop no longer yield to the desire of the Iraqi folks.

“I mediate higher than half the members of parliament reject the presence of American military forces as a topic of precept,” he said. “If the USA wants to impose its presence by power, and to circumvent the Iraqi structure and parliament, Iraq can take care of it the identical blueprint and drive it out by power… Nevertheless the first fragment is political,” al-Khazali said.

The Forty five-year-pale head of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous, spoke with The Connected Press in a wide-ranging interview at one in all his team’s offices in a extremely-fortified affirm within the Iraqi capital, upright across the Tigris River from the U.S. Embassy.

Curbing foreign have an effect on has become a hot-button dispute in Iraq after parliament elections in Would perhaps perhaps in which Shiite militias backed by Iran made major gains. The militias fought alongside U.S.-backed Iraqi troops against IS in present years, gaining outsized have an effect on and vitality along the blueprint.

Now, after defeating IS militants of their final metropolis bastions, Iraqi politicians and militia leaders are extra and additional talking out against the persisted presence of U.S. forces on Iraqi soil.

American forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011, but returned in 2014 on the invitation of the government to support battle IS after it seized enormous areas within the north and west of the country, including Iraq’s 2d ideal metropolis, Mosul. A U.S.-led coalition supplied predominant air strengthen as Iraqi forces regrouped and drove IS out in a dear three-year campaign.

Iraqi politicians had been angered when U.S. President Donald Trump visited American forces at a substandard in western Iraq without assembly with any Iraqi officials, a snub that added to requires U.S. troops to withdraw.

Trump has said he has no plans to withdraw the 5,200 troops within the country and that Iraq will be historical for U.S. airstrikes internal Syria after the U.S. withdraws its troops from that country.

Al-Khazali, whose forces are preventing in Syria alongside President Bashar Assad’s troops, said he used to be “determined and assured” there’ll be an Iraqi parliament vote calling for the withdrawal and regulation of U.S. forces within the country.

“If the first motive for his or her presence is to confront the military hazard posed by Daesh, then this risk is eliminated,” he said, relating to IS. “So what’s the justification for maintaining this amount (of troops) now?”

He said a little contingent of advisers and trainers for logistical matters could presumably perhaps stick to it as obvious by a joint committee that could specify their numbers and locations.

“One thing else hundreds of than that will be regarded as an infringement on sovereignty by the Iraqi parliament, the Iraqi folks and political factions, including ours, and we are going to not be any longer going to permit it,” he said.

Al-Khazali used to be jailed by British and U.S. forces from 2007 to 2010 for his role within the Shiite insurgency. His team has fought in main battles against IS in northern Iraq and in neighboring Syria’s civil war.

Al-Khazali ruffled feathers in gradual 2017 when he confirmed up on the Lebanon-Israel border along with members of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah team, expressing strengthen for the Lebanese and Palestinians against the Jewish affirm. His talk over with sparked harsh criticism from Lebanon’s high minister on the time, who ordered him banned from entering the country.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq, which owns its bear TV location, made major gains in final year’s parliament elections, and al-Khazali is now represented by a 15-member bloc in parliament.

When asked about the extra and additional frequent Israeli airstrikes focused on Iranian interests in Syria, al-Khazali said the two powers seem like headed for a war of words which can flip genuine into a regional war. He said Iraq would simplest be drawn in if straight attacked by Israel.

“If the Israeli entity strikes targets internal Iraq, in spite of what the pretext is, then Iraq as a sovereign affirm will defend itself and our response to the Israeli assault will be limitless,” he said.

Al-Khazali also said if Israel had been to assault Lebanon and Syria, and “in case they want our support,” then “in my belief, I could be the first to look at part.”